Good Week for Teaching

¡¡¡¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!! ¡Hola todos! 

So, let's just get right into my week!

Lunes. Was our p-day. It was raining so we really didn't do anything haha. We tried to watch The Testaments, but that didn't work because we didn't know how to turn the tv on. Stupid reason right? But really what tv needs more than to be plugged in and to hit the power button, but somehow we still couldn't get it to work! Haha so we slept. Sounds lazy, but it was totally worth it! After that we went and contacted some references that we had received from some members, and set up some appointments with people.

Martes! We had our first clase de districto here on the island. Usually this is where all the missionaries in your district get together and practice stuff, but when it's only us two on the island it was a little bit interesting, and it went by a lot faster that it normally does haha. But that's ok. I'm leader of districto and of my zone mainly because we switch off teaching stuff each week haha. But after that we went and met with a member whose wife isn't a member. His name is Gérman. They are this elderly couple, and he has cancer, but is still coming to church and doing everything he can. We went to teach them both, Gérman and Monica, but Monica was sick so we shared with Gérman a little bit. It was a good lesson, and he knows a lot even though he says he isn't capable to talk about the scriptures and share stuff.   He told the First Vision perfectly. After that we went and talked with the lady who owns the church building, and who is renting it to us. Her name is Maria, and it ends up that she knows English!  She lived in California for 4 years and so she talked to us in English. We talked to her, and shared a little bit of the restoration and she was very receptive so we are going to continue teaching her.

Mircoles. We had lesson after lesson! Finally we have someone to teach, and every lesson was a good one. One lesson was with a reference that a member gave us that had shared with the missionaries before. So we went and taught her, and then after that we ran to the church to teach a lesson to the cousin of the only missionary on the island. She is a recently returned missionary and she helped us teach. It was an incredibly spiritual lesson, and Manuel (that's the investigator's name) said that he had already prayed and was pretty sure that the church was true, and that the Book of Mormon was true too. It was very cool! After that we went and taught Paloma. She is an old investigator too of the missionaries on the island before, but she left to the continent and never was baptized.  So we are sharing with her, and she had a doubt about how she was going to receive an answer, so we explained to her that it wasn't going to be anything big or crazy, but more her thoughts and feelings.  That's when she started to think about how she feels when she prays and asks about the Book of Mormon and feels peace. So we invited her to continue praying and reading. So we´ll see what happens!

Jueves. We went and shared with German and Monica again, and it was a really good lesson. We tried to set up a baptism date with Monica but she already has plans to get baptized on the continent.  So she is planning on getting baptized so we are going to continue teaching her and stuff, but it was cool that she was already planning on it. After that we went and visited a less active family to share with them. We still don't know why they are inactive but we will keep visiting them.

Viernes. ¡I SURVIVED THE END OF THE WORLD! Haha that was fun. I'm pretty sure we saw every religious leader out preaching. It was interesting haha, but we just went and shared with people as well.

Sabado. So we were going to teach an English class... that was until nobody showed up... but that's ok. We then went and sang Happy Birthday in English to a youth in the ward, that embarassed her pretty good, but it was fun. We also had a family home evening de branch and watched the Christmas Devotional.

Domingo. We had 12 in the church and I'm still playing the piano.

Out of time! Love you all and miss you tons!!!!!!!

Lots of Failed Appointments, How Disappointing!

Nathan Alder

¡HOLA TODAS LAS PERSONAS! Lunes. We were going to go on a hike with Angel, a youth in the ward, but it was raining all day, and we really didnt want to go do anything in the rain, so we slept for a good hour or two. after that we went and met with some of the

8:04 AM

¡HOLA TODAS LAS PERSONAS!

 

Lunes. We were going to go on a hike with Angel, a youth in the ward, but it was raining all day, and we really didn't want to go do anything in the rain, so we slept for a good hour or two. After that we went and met with some of the members that were here, and other than that we really didn't do much.

 

Martes. We did our normal studies, ate, and then went to teach seminary. We had 2 hours of seminary; one to teach him the New Testament, and the other to teach Book of Mormon. I was teaching the New Testament. It was fun, but we had to teach it really fast because he was leaving on Sunday and so we covered only the really important parts of every lesson. After that we had a whole bunch of appointments, (for the first time ever) and every single one of them failed... that was a little disappointing. But we had plans for Wednesday don't worry about it!!!

 

Mircoles. Same schedule: studies, food (we had a soup with cow tail in it), seminary, every single appointment failed... but at least this time we were able to fill the time doing different types of service. We carried a stove to a ladies house.  We pushed some kids up a hill on their little car things. We helped a lady move a bunch of beds around, and then also we went and taught a less active member who wants to come back to church but has to quit smoking  She won't go back to church because she doesn't feel like she can, but we are working with her. Also we received a call from President answering some questions we had, including why he chose me to come to the island. He said, "Well I prayed about who I should send to the island, and yours was the name that came to mind." Talk about your inspiration!  But ya that was fun.

 

Jueves. So to try and finish seminary before Sunday we decided to do 4 hours of it;  2 hours before lunch, and then 2 hours after. With this schedule we should be able to finish teaching everything. We went and taught some lessons, and then everyone went down below to wait for the giant battle ship that came to the island to bring all of the students back for summer break. It also brought 400 other people to visit for a few days. So once again, nobody was home.

 

Viernes. We got a call that morning from Angel, who said that he was actually leaving this day. All of our plans to finish were gone! But at least he is with his family on the continent. Other than that there were just people everywhere!

 

Sabado. So there was a funeral because I guess that someone from the island that was coming back on the boat slipped and fell and hit his head, and ended up dying on the boat.  So once again half the island was at that. We went and started talking to some people down below, and also then went and shared with some members, and helped them put up their christmas tree. It was an interesting day.

 

Doming. We had 10 people in church this week. me and my companion gave the talks! That was interesting haha, and then we finished all 3 reunions an hour early so we just left haha.  Well, not us because we had to put the tithing and stuff in, so we had to stay, but I now know the behind the scenes of the church life, and boy is it crazy haha. But ya then there was a giant BBQ from like 5 until past 10, so we went down there for a little, got some food, and talked with some of the members, and set up appointments with some people.

 

But ya that was my week! Hope you enjoy! Love you and miss you tons!

Trying to Sort Everything Out Here

!Hola, Hola! ¡Está lluviendo mucho aqui pero todavia estoy animado!

 

Lunes. So there are some hikes that we want to do while we are here on the island because we will never get to do them again in our lives.  So on monday, we went and hiked up Salsipuedes which translates to "leave if you can", but it was a really nice hike. We ran into some horses half-way up the trail, and pretty much they just went up the trail in front of us. Maipu, the dog of the family that we live with, comes with us on every hike we do. He is a crazy dog and super funny, but the hike was awesome. I got some really good pictures that I wish I could send you but sadly, that is a little hard here on the island... but ya.

Martes. We did our normal studies and lunch. After that we went and visited Angel or David as I found out he likes to be called, but he is the one active youth on the island. So he helped us with a bunch of information about the island. The records here are horrible. Most of the addresses of houses are wrong. It says that people don't have the priesthood, and so on. So we are trying to fix all that and get as many dates correct as possible. Also there are a lot of people that aren't even on the island anymore. So we are working on updating everything, and it's a pain in the butt. We ended up having Angel come with us to some of the lessons that we had.  We went and taught Maria and also we went and saw Michel. Yes, she has been trying to leave for more than a week now, but the weather here on the island has been bad and raining all week so she has not been able to leave.

Miércoles. So we went and taught Rodrigo. We finished the plan of salvation, and taught him a bunch of weird stuff because he just has all of these weird questions. Finally my companion just asked him, "What does any of this matter if you don't believe in God?" That got him to think.  We then asked him pretty much why he doesn't want to pray, and how we could help him. It ends up it's the science versus religion argument in his head, and I was able to say that I am studying Biology, and I have studied a little bit.  I was able to testify about my view of evolution and science and all that stuff. It was a really good lesson, and it got him to think even more.  Also this day was the day that I must have ate something bad, because my stomach was going crazy! So we took it easy. Haha.

Jueves. Weekly planning. Ya it's fun here on the island, but there is a freaking party every single week! and it sucks because everybody on the island goes to them! So we wandered around, visited a menos activo. After that we finally gave in and went to see who was at the party, but it wasn't really a party.  It was a celebration to welcome their new mayor of the island. Literally everyone was there. We didn't stay for very long.

Viernes. So we went to set up seminary with him.  We also called the mission president to see what he wanted from us because we have no clue what we are doing here!!!!!! But he told us what he was expecting and it was pretty much what we were doing, so it made us feel better. We talked with him with us standing in the street with him on speaker phone. It was fun.

Sabado. we went and taught Rodrigo again. This time we talked about prayer and got him to really think about everything we are teaching him. After that we went to see when Michel was going to leave. She is supposedly leaving today, but it's raining, so I doubt that is going to happen. Then we had Seminary. That's pretty much all the cool stuff.

Domingo. It was still raining so only 6 people were in church. I'm still trying to play the piano, and was the teacher in priesthood. It was fun. We finished like 30 mins early and then we had seminary again to try and help him graduate before he leaves next week. So ya that was my week.

It was fun, and crazy, and cold but I'm here, and I'm working hard. Jacob 6 Servants of the Vineyard. Gotta be diligent. Love you all and miss you tons!

The Work Here is Slow

¡Hola FAMILIA Y AMIGOS Y PERROS! ¿Como estan ustedes? Haha one day I will write something in Spanish for real.

 

So Monday, P-day, we went on a hike straight up the mountain! Haha literally looking at it from a distance it is straight up the side of the hill, and it only took us like an hour to do it. I got some really good pictures of it though which is good haha. Ya other than that that's pretty much all we did on Monday.

Tuesday, we are teaching this new lady, Elena, she is like 70 or something, and she has trouble remembering things that she has recently done, but we are trying to teach her slowly and clearly, but I don't know how well it is going to work haha. But we much try! Then we went and met a member who had just got back to the island that day. His name is Angel, he is 18, and he is going into the Chilean Navy or something like that, but we got to know him, shared something small with his family, and then invited them to church. (They didn't show up...) so after that, we went and saw one of our other investigators. Her name is Maria, like the mother of Jesus (that's what they always say when their name is Maria) but we shared the restoration with her, and answered some of her questions that she had, and I think if we can explain things clearly to her we will be able to help her see the truth of things. She also is reading in the Book of Mormon which is really good so we will see what happens with that.

Wednesday, we did the normal studies and eating and stuff haha, and then we went around to see if we could find people in their houses.  That didn't work very well, but we finally went and visited the sister of the member that we live with. Her name is Blanca. She was married and sealed in the temple, but now her and her husband are separated, and neither of them go to church anymore. So we shared with her while she was drinking tea, and ironing peoples clothes (including underwear). So we shared with her, and she said that she was going to come back to church soon, but first she has to change a lot of things in her life, but she said she is going to do it. I guess we´ll see what happens. After that we went and visited Rodrigo, our other investigator. He says he doesn't believe in God, but he agrees with everything that we have been teaching him. He was raised off of the island and has been here for about a year or so. He doesn't like the Catholic Church (he straight up called them a mob, a little much if you ask me), he doesn't like the Evangelicals (they just tell him he is damned because he doesn't believe in God), and he likes the Mormons because they don;t get up in his face about things. But ya we went to visit him, and he was in the shower, so we talked with his grandma who is also a member, and oh my goodness she would not stop talking.  We walked in sat down, and she just went off about how she wasn't going to come back to church because the people there are hypocrites and they don't really do what they say, and then she started talking about Romney, and how a member shouldn't be involved with politics, and on and on, and whenever I tried to say anything to answer a question she asked she would just start talking right over me. No joke. So finally her son came out and we taught him about the plan of salvation. It was a really good lesson, and he is reading in the Book of Mormon, but he still doesn't want to pray so one step at a time.

Thursday, we went and taught Elena again. After that we went to try and find people... again, and we found this house that had a huge garden. Like the entire yard was a forest of cool flowers and plants and trees and stuff. They let us in and were really nice, and we are going to be teaching them. Then we went and met a guy named Gido. He is one of the very first members on the island, and he is inactive. He says he knows that the gospel is true, but he has another mission in life so he doesn't need to go to church. He then showed us his cave. His house is built right next to the mountain so he dug a cave into the mountain where he goes and plays music every day. It's really cool and has a really cool sound, but a little crazy at the same time.

 Friday/Saturday.  We did service for the family that we live with, and tried to find people, and ya they were having a thing called the Teleton here Friday and Saturday so nobody was home, literally nobody.

Sunday. Fast and testimony meeting with 8 people in church is interesting because everyone gets to bear their testimony, and once everyone does that you end the meeting and go to the next one. But I played the piano in church, with all of my piano skills! Good thing I stuck with piano lessons... or at least I wish I would have stuck with them now haha. But it wasn't too bad, and at least it was something. After that my companion taugh the gospel doctrine class, and then for priesthood it was the branch president and us so we read from the Teachings of the Prophet book and said what we liked about what we read. Church then got out half an hour earlier haha. But it was fun!

The work here on the island is slow, and it's easy to get unmotivated, but I'm trying my best! Love you all and miss you all tons!

Our Island Home

¡Hole de nuevo Familia y Amigos!

So I don't remember if I wrote about Monday, but Monday we went through Narnia, it was awesome. We went on a hike on Monday with Elder Waldron before he left the island. We went up to a little campsite thing, and there was a side trail that said self leading trail, so I decided to follow it, and it no joke took us to Narnia! There were these bush tree things with leaves bigger than me no joke! It was so cool, the island is so pretty and so different. Pretty much on this tiny island there is a desert part, a rain forest part, a normal forest part, valleys, and a lot more stuff. But ya Monday we did that, and we welcomed a boat that sailed from the island to the continent in 4 days in memory of some guy and now they are back.

 

Tuesday we saw the Waldrons off, and went and studied.  After lunch, we moved all of our stuff into the missionaries home which is where the Waldrons were staying.  It is a 1 room little house thing with a bathroom, but at least now we have our own bathroom. After that we went and moved the computer from the branch president's house to the chapel. When I say chapel I mean little house that we are renting and using as a chapel, but hey at least we have something and that's when we realized how slow the computer really was. There is something wrong with it, but it still works, and at least now we can see the ward stuff.   Also we can imput the tithing. That's right I am the secretary, and I do all of that fun stuff. After that we went and found a new investigator, his name is Rodrigo, and he says he doesn't really believe in God, but he is still willing to listen, and he has a lot of questions, so we are going to work with him.

 

 

                                Our Island Home

 

Wednesday so also on Monday a big boat came in that has all the supplies and stuff on it for the month. Ya so Wednesday after lunch we helped Nana unload a bunch of boxes of meat and stuff for the next week to eat.  It was pretty interesting. After that we went and started giving out Liahonas, that's our excuse to get to know people right now haha. The problem is that after the tsunami 2 years ago, nobody has really kept track or changed their addresses on the programs that we have, so we kind of just get a guess and then go start asking people, but the thing is that we can't enter houses unless there is another guy there. Well most of the people here are fishermen, so they go fishing early in the morning until about 7 at night, and then really they don't want anything to do with us they just want to sleep. We also are trying to work with some of the less active members, but they are so stubborn, and we are on an island, so if they get offended then they are just never going to go back to church because then they would have to see the person that offended them. It's pretty much just a drama island and I make enough of my own drama that I get sick of it really fast. But we met this singer girl that is a recent convert of about a month that is here to sing. and she wants us to start teaching her mom. No joke this girl is awesome. Her name is Michel, and she is a fireball of the gospel. She wants everything and anything that has to do with the gospel. It's crazy.

Thursday. ¡DIA DE LA ISLA! We had studies as normal. We then had weekly planning! Woo!!! Except for half of the stuff we plan for involves working with the ward committee, and since we are the ward committee we kind of got to skip a lot of that stuff. It's really interesting and different being on the island. After that we went to try and visit some people but there was a big party thing going on for the birthday of the isla so we didn't get very much done, which was kinda a bummer but we still had a lesson with Rodrigo again, and we taught him the first lesson, and he accepted to read the Book of Mormon, but he still won't pray.  We are going to have to work on that with him. Other than that we just tried to figure out where people live, and what they are doing on the island, but no joke pretty much the entire island was down partying. so at about 8 we finally went down to the party, 1 to see Michel sing, and 2 to get to know people, and see how many would be drunk. It was fun. They had a fake Elvis sing, and Michel is amazing at singing and it was really fun.

 

Friday we did service for a member. everyone on the island is starting to build green houses, so Teresa asked if we could come help her with hers. She is building like a 2 level thing to plant in, so we helped her build a box to plant stuff in. That took like 2 and a half hours, but it was fun, and we got to know her a little more. After that we went and visited Michel and her mom, and we talked with them for a little bit and then we got ready for the noche de hogar at the branch, and at that we watched The Testament.  It was really good, and every one that was there was crying by the end of it so it was good.

Saturday we went and passed out more Liahonas, and got to know some more of the members. Everyone only ever complains about everyone else here and it is really annoying but it's what we got to live with. Then we had a noche de hogar with a less active family, and had a lesson about the Book of Mormon that was really good, and then after they wanted to play a game, so we played some short games, and then played home made ping pong. It was really fun and we got to gain the families trust, so now they just need to come to church.

 

 

Sunday we watched CONFERENCE here on the island. They had not seen it yet so we watched the Sunday Morning session and the Saturday Morning session. We had a total of 9 people in the church, but ya we are trying to fix that. Other than that we sat down with the branch president and started updating some of the records of the branch so that was good. But ya that was my week, and now we are going to try and go do a hike so we´ll see!

Love you and miss you all a lot!!!